Sample of Past PRRUCS Events
The Aesthetics of Healing: Reflections on Art, Medicine, and Exile
Thursday, December 7, 2023 | Sheraton University City
Join PRRUCS for this Perry-Collegium concluding event for the Medical Humanities Fellowship, featuring cardiologist and artist, Nazanin Mogbeli.
The Classical and Christian Tradition in American Democracy: New Cases For & Against
Thursday, November 2, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Join Collegium Institute and PRRUCS for this luncheon event, “The Classical and Christian Tradition in American Democracy: New Cases for & Against” with authors of two new books, Professor Kody Cooper and Professor Anne Norton.
Professor Kody Cooper is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Service at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and author of the recently published The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding. Professor Anne Norton is the Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Norton is the author of the recently published Wild Democracy: Anarchy, Courage, and Ruling the Law.
Penn and the Future of Religion in the University
Friday, October 20, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Perry-Collegium Initiative (PCI) panel: Penn and the Future of Religion in the University featuring Douglas Jacobsen (Professor of Religion Emeritus, Messiah University, and coauthor of two recent Oxford UP volumes: No Longer Invisible: Religion in University Education and The American University in a Postsecular Age) and three PRRUCS senior affiliates: Professors Michele Margolis (Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania), Beth Wenger(Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania) and John J. DiIulio, Jr. (Faculty Director, PRRUCS-PCI, and Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania).
The Affective Academic: Reflecting on Embodied Research - Faculty Colloquium
Friday, October 6, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Anscombe on Action and Ethics
Thursday & Friday, July 13-14, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
February 22, 2023: Dr. John Peter DiIulio (Penn): “On Just Promises”
April 4, 2023: Prof Graham Hubbs (Idaho): “Anscombe’s Ethics of Money”
May 7: Dr. Paul Musso (Penn): “Anscombe on State Authority”
What is (Human) Life II Conference
Thursday & Friday, July 13-14, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
“Reconsidering Human Agency and Intelligence in Age of AI”, featuring Professor Stake Ake (Drexel University) and Jesse Couenhoven (Villanova University)
Cultivating the Art of Being Human: The Challenge and Opportunity of ChatGPT - Faculty Colloquium
Friday, April 21, 2023 | Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics
It’s here: AI has burst into higher education in ways that no longer seem possible for non-specialists to ignore. New interfaces like ChatGPT4 raise very significant practical questions relating to academic integrity and job displacement, to be sure. But they also provide an opportunity to revisit more fundamental questions about the ends of college education and the traits constitutive of a human life well-lived. This informal colloquium draws together faculty of diverse disciplinary trainings, backgrounds, and commitments to venture outside of our ordinary discourse communities and build intellectual friendship while discussing questions of broad scope for our university community.
This Friday afternoon colloquium featured two discussion sessions, each of which opened with brief remarks, followed by a reception. Here was the schedule:
Coffee & Light Refreshments Available starting at 2:40pm
Session #1: 3:00: Amy Sepinwall (Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Wharton School, Penn): Becoming Human Again: What Social Insights Might AI Advances Offer to Us Here?
Session #2: 4:15: Weimao Ke (Professor of Information Science, Drexel): Engaging with AI as an Educator: New Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching and Mentorship
Friendship, Faith, and Philosophical Revolution
Thursday, April 14, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
A Perry-Collegium Initiative event
Collegium Institute, PRRUCS, & Penn Philosophy Present: Friendship, Faith, and Philosophical Revolution; an Anscombe Archive Exhibit & Presentation, with John Berkman (University of Toronto)
God and the Multiverse
Thursday, April 13, 2023 | Penn Newman Center
A Perry-Collegium Initiative Event
Collegium Institute & PRRUCS Present: “God and the Multiverse” with Dr. Deb Haarsma, Astronomer and President of BioLogos.
The Ethics of Killing
Thursday, March 23, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Collegium Institute and the Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society present: “The Ethics of Killing: Ansombe’s Contribution to Understanding Murder”, featuring Joshua Stuchlik, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas.
Reading Newman in the Third Reich
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 | Penn Newman Center
Collegium Institute & PRRUCS Present: “Reading Newman in the Third Reich”, an evening conversation with Prof. Helena Tomko, Professor of Literature at Villanova University in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the White Rose Student Resistance.
Medical Humanities on Wellness & Spirituality
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Collegium Institute and the Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society present: “Medical Humanities on Wellness and Spirituality”, featuring Dr. Philip Gehrman, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Thomas Kolon, Chief of Urology Division at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Law & the Human Person, A History of the First Amendment
Monday, January 30, 2023 | University of Pennsylvania
Collegium Institute & PRRUCS Present: “Law & the Human Person: A History of the First Amendment”, featuring Prof. Sarah Barringer Gordon, Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law at Penn Carey Law School.
The Lost Women: Recovering the Other English Catholic Literary Revival
Thursday, January 12, 2023 | Zoom
The Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, Collegium Institute, and Dappled Things present: “The Lost Women: Recovering the Other English Catholic Literary Revival”, an Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative conversation featuring Professors Bonnie Lander Johnson (Cambridge University) and Julia Meszaros (St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, Ireland).
Mathematics for Human Flourishing with Francis Su
Thursday, December 1, 2022 | 7:00 pm ET | University of Pennsylvania, Amado Recital Hall in Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA, 19104
Join Collegium Institute and the Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society for our Fall 2022 Magi Project Lecture featuring Francis Su, Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America.
The Professional Life and the Good Life with Arthur Brooks
Thursday: November 10, 2022 | 5:00 pm | The Study at University City, 20 S 33rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
To open its 10th Anniversary commemoration events, Collegium Institute will host a reception featuring remarks by Professor Arthur Brooks of Harvard University on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 5pm in University City. This event highlights Collegium’s “Professions and the Good Life” initiative which brings together its programs in Legal Humanities, Medical Humanities, and the Philosophy of Finance.
The Art We Live With: Seeking, Prioritizing, and Cultivating Beauty in the Everyday
Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | 12:00 pm ET | Via Zoom
On Oct. 5, The Collegium Institute and Dappled Things hosted this online Ars Vivendi Initiative event which brought together a diversity of voices to explore the need to prioritize, make, and seek beauty in our everyday lives, beyond the walls of museums and concert halls. In this recorded virtual event, Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative Director, Jess Sweeney, engages in conversation with: – James K.A. Smith, editor-in-chief of Image Journal & Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University – Shemaiah Gonzalez, a writer & editor based out of Seattle – John Herreid, graphic designer, illustrator, & catalogue manager at Ignatius Press – Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies Ph.D. candidate, and mother based out of Montreal This online event was co-sponsored by Dappled Things, Image Journal, the Lumen Christi Institute, PRRUCS, Nova Forum, the University of St. Thomas Catholic Studies Department, and Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project.
Anscombe on Action & Ethics: Virtual Seminar
Wednesdays: Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 30, Feb. 22, March 29, April 29, 2022 | 7:00 pm | Via Zoom (fully virtual)
This reading series considers the pioneering work on action and ethics of Elizabeth Anscombe, one of the seminal philosophers of the 20th century, and perhaps the greatest female philosopher of all time.
This reading group will be facilitated by Dr. John Peter DiIulio, the James N. Perry Scholar of Philosophy, Politics, and Society at the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Paul Musso, an Anscombe scholar and lecturer in Penn’s Philosophy Department.
Completely Free? The Relevance of John Stuart Mill to Liberalism Today
Thursday, September 22, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:30pm | Benjamin Franklin Room (HH218), Houston Hall,
University of Pennsylvania
Join Professor John Peter DiIulio’s talk and discussion on his new book, Completely Free: The Moral and Political Vision of John Stuart Mill, where he argues that Mill’s apparently fragmented and incoherent ethical, moral, and political ideas are in reality all part of one unified philosophical vision; and, moreover, that this philosophical vision is fundamentally linked to liberalism.
Godless? On Atheism and Theism in the Modern World
Mondays, July 5-July 26, 2022 | 4:30 – 5:45pm
For our July reading group on Genealogies of Modernity and Catholic Thought, we will explore evolutions of atheism and how it developed through the modern world from something almost impossible to believe to something almost hard not to. To learn more about this seminar, click the button below
“What is Life?” International and Interdisciplinary Magi Conference
Thursday, June 16 – Saturday, June 18, 2022
The discovery of untold numbers of planets outside our solar system that seem to meet certain biological requirements make it statistically likely that there is life on other worlds. This has profound implications for our understanding of life, ourselves and our place in the universe and raises questions across world cultures and religious traditions. This summer, scientists, philosophers and theologians are coming together for an international, multi-day collaborative conversation to discuss these new frontiers of science, reason, and faith. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Professor Celia Deane-Drummond (Oxford University) on “A Theological Exploration of Human Becoming: Belonging to this World and the Next” (Opening Lecture of the Magi Conference)
Thursday, June 16, 2022 | 7:00-8:30pm
This lecture will tackle the question of what is life through an exploration of the evolutionary currents of human becoming as both grounded in this world and yet orientated towards transcendence and the development of virtues. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
"No Unsacred Places": The Rhythms, Rituals, and Routines of the Creative Life
Thursday, June 2, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:30pm
Join the Collegium Institute for an online conversation exploring the rhythms, routines, and rituals of a painter, poet, sculptor, & writer on Thursday June 2nd via Zoom. To learn more about this webinar, click the button below.
The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession — A Medical Humanities Reception with Farr Curlin, MD
Friday, May 6, 2022 | 5:00 – 8:00pm
Collegium Institute is honored to host Farr A. Curlin, MD for a Medical Humanities lecture and reception this spring. This event, The Way of Medicine: Ethics and Healing, will convene local doctors, academics, and medical students for a conversation about medical ethics. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Anscombe on Money, Debt, and Usury: An Evening Conversation with Graham Hubbs
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | 7:00 – 8:30pm
Collegium Institute and PRRUCS are pleased to welcome Graham Hubbs, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Idaho, for a lecture on GEM Anscombe’s philosophy of money, debt, and usury. This lecture will take place live in person at Penn and will also be live-streamed. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Anscombe &: The History of Philosophy according to Elizabeth Anscombe
Tuesdays, Jan 18, Feb 15, March 15, April 5, 2022 | 7:00 – 8:00pm
In this reading series, we will consider G.E.M. Anscombe in dialogue with major thinkers from the history of philosophy. This reading group will be facilitated by Terence Sweeney, Ph.D, the John and Daria Barry Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. To learn more about this webinar, click the button below.
As Earth Without Water: An Evening with Novelist Katy Carl
Monday, December 13, 2021 | 7:00 – 8:00pm
In this evening conversation, we will encounter the debut novel by Katy Carl, As Earth without Water. Christopher Beha, editor of Harper’s Magazine describes the novel as a “sharp and moving meditation on freedom, choice, and the creative life. Katy will read from her novel and participate in a discussion about the text with Joshua Hren, editor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books.
Catholic MidCentury Modern: The Church & Other Possible Modernities
Monday, December 6, 2021 | 7:00 – 8:30pm
In the ferment of the mid 20th-Century, Catholic writers and artists sought to develop a new, distinctly Catholic, modernity. They navigated the political challenges of fascism, communism, and liberalism. In this event, we look to the history of MidCentury Catholicism, with figures like Georges Rouault, the Maritains, Dorothy Day, and Claude McKay, and its response to the cultural, intellectual, and political ferment of the 1920s-60s. What can we learn from these great figures as 21st Century people grapple with the challenges of our century?
The Women Are Up to Something
Tuesday, November 4, 2021 | 12:00 – 1:15pm
Join Collegium Institute for a conversation with Benjamin J.B. Lipscomb, a philosophy professor at Houghton College specializing in ethical theory, the history of ethics, biomedical ethics, agrarianism, and legal interpretation. He is principally concerned with character formation. Lipscomb has contributed to a collection on Immanuel Kant, and his current project is a group biography on Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch.
Anscombe and Moral Prohibition
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 | 7:00 – 8:15pm
Join Collegium Institute for a special evening lecture featuring Dr. Candace Vogler, David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. The topics of Dr. Vogler’s wide-ranging research include ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy and literature, cinema, psychoanalysis, gender studies, and more.
Elizabeth Anscombe famously suggested that if we couldn’t understand the basis of moral prohibition, then we couldn’t do moral philosophy at all. Like Peter Geach, she held that Aristotle was of no help in understanding moral prohibition.
Anscombe &: The History of Philosophy according to Elizabeth Anscombe
Tuesday, September 21, 2021 | 7:00 – 8:00pm
Probing the Shallows of the Unknown: A Magi Project Evening Conversation
April 8, 2021 | 7:00 – 9:00pm
The State of Religious Freedom: A 2021 Global Survey
March 23, 2021 | 10am – 12:00pm
Religion after the Pandemic: Forecasting the Global Future of Faith
March 5, 2021 | 12pm – 1:30pm
The Legacies of Oscar Romero
November 16th, 2018:
Speakers:
- Edgardo Colon-Emeric, Duke Divinity School
- Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, University of Pennsylvania
- Frederick C. Bauerschmidt, Loyola University Maryland
To Whom do Children Belong?
October 25th, 2018: Speakers:
- Melissa Moschella, Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics, Columbia University
- Sigal Ben-Porath, Professor of Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division, University of Pennsylvania
- Ferdous Jahan, Associate Director of Fox Leadership International, University of Pennsylvania
Faith in Democracy?
September 21st, 2018: Speaker: Moss Ntlha, General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa
A Female School of Analytic Philosophy?
September 13th, 2018:
Speakers:
- Rachael Wiseman, University of Liverpool
- Clare Mac Cumhaill, Durham University
- moderated by Karen Detlefsen, University of Pennsylvania
Conversations in Science, Faith, and Philosophy about the Origins of our Universe
June 25th to 29th, 2018: Speakers:
- John Farrell, Author of the book: The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology
- William Carroll, Thomas Aquinas Fellow in Theology and Science, University of Oxford
- James Platania, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, Seton Hall University
- Joseph Laracy, Instructor, Seton Hall University
- Don Lincoln, Senior Scientist, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
- David Charbonneau, Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University
- Jim Peebles, Albert Einstein Professor of Science, Princeton University
Genealogies of Modernity II: Possible Modernities between Medieval and Enlightenment
June 11th to 15th, 2018:
Speakers:
- Karen Detlefsen, Professor of Philosophy and Education, University of Pennsylvania
- Ulrich Lehner, Professor of History and Theology, Marquette University
- Ryan McDermott, Professor of Literature, University of Pittsburgh
- Christopher Nygren, Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Pittsburgh
- Eileen Reeves, Professor and Chair of Comparative Literature, Princeton University
- Naomi Waltham-Smith, Assistant Professor of Music, University of Pennsylvania
Science and Religion: The Myth of Conflict
April 24th, 2018: Speaker: Stephen Barr, Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware
Did Liberalism Fail?
March 27th, 2018: Speaker: Patrick Deneen, Associate Professor of Constitutional Studies, University of Notre Dame
State vs. Individual? Robert Nisbet and the Freedom of Association
February 21st, 2018: Speaker: Luke Sheahan, Post-Doctoral Associate of Political Science, Duke University
Darwin, God, and the Cosmos: Is Faith Still Relevant in a Scientific World?
November 30th, 2017:
Speakers:
- Kenneth Miller, Professor of Biology, Brown University
- Michael Weisberg, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
The Legacy of the Reformation After 500 Years
October 25th, 2017:
Speakers:
- Carlos Eire, Professor of History and Religious Studies, Yale University
- Margo Todd, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
Genealogies of Modernity
July 3rd to 7th, 2017:
Speakers:
- Ryan McDermott, Professor of Literature, University of Pittsburgh
- Carlos Eire, Professor of History, Yale University
Seeing Reality: Coversations in Science, Faith & Philosophy
June 5th to 9th, 2017:
Speakers:
- Andrew Pinsent, Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford
- Hans Halvorson, Stuart Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University
- Karin Öberg, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University
- Marie I George, Professor of Philosophy, St. John’s University
- Thadeusz Pacholczyk, Director of Education, The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia
Art and Morality: On the Relationship between Aesthetics and Ethics
April 5th, 2017: Speaker: Roger Scruton, a philosopher, public intellectual and author of over 40 books
Fall Faculty Colloquia Series: Between Justice and Mercy
Fall 2016, between October and December: 5 sessions
How Catholic Places Serve Civic Purposes: The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Economic “Halo Effects”
November 30th, 2016: Joseph P. Tierney, PRRUCS Resident Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program released a PRRUCS report that estimates the annual economic impact of Catholic community-serving organizations in Philadelphia. The report was released during an event on University of Pennsylvania’s campus featuring Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput and a panel of distinguished guests including PRRUCS Senior Fellows Dr. Ram Cnaan and A. Robert Jaeger as well as Lorraine M. Knight, Executive Director of Nutritional Development Services in Philadelphia.
The Brookings Institution presents: The Halo Effect and the Economic Value of Faith-based Organizations
November 29th, 2016: Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society (PRRUCS) at the University of Pennsylvania hosted a panel to discuss the economic importance of faith-based and neighborhood partnerships and considered strategies to strengthen these hubs of civic engagement and social support. Click here to view the event.
Natural Law and Interfaith Relations: A Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Trialogue
October 27th, 2016:
Speakers:
- Anver M. Emon, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Religion, Pluralism, and the Rule of Law, University of Toronto
- Matthew Levering, Chair of Theology, University of Saint Mary of the Lake
- David Novak, Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto
Religion and the 2016 Presidential Election Colloquiums, University of Pennsylvania
1st Colloquium: September 16th, 2016 Speaker: John L. Jackson, Richard Perry University Professor, Dean, School of Social Policy & Practice 2nd Colloquium: September 23rd, 2016 Speaker: Michele Margolis, Assistant Professor of Political Science 3rd Colloquium: September 29th, 2016, National Museum of American Jewish History
Speakers:
- John DiIulio, Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society
- John Lapinski, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director, Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies
- Melissa Wilde, Associate Professor of Sociology, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Program for Research on Religion, and Urban Civil Society
- Jane Eisner, Editor-In-Chief of The Jewish Daily Forward
- Moderated by Dick Polman, National Political Columnist
4th Colloquium: October 14th, 2016 Speaker: Jim Wallis, President and Founder of Sojourners 5th Colloquium: October 21st, 2016 Speaker: Prema Kurien, Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University 6th Colloquium: October 28th, 2016 Speaker: Mike Hout, Professor of Sociology, New York University Post-Election Debrief Panel: December 2nd, 2016 Speakers:
- John Lapinski, Associate Professor of Political Science
- Geoff Layman, Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
The PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE of INTER-FAITH RELATIONS: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate
October 15th, 2015:
Speakers:
- Philip Cunningham, Professor of Theology, St. Joseph’s University
- Heather Sharkey, Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania
- Daniel Mark, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Varieties of Modern Orthodoxy
February 5th, 2015:
Speakers:
- Alan Brill, Ross-Cooperman Professor of Jewish-Christian Studies, Seton Hall University
- Anna Bonta Moreland, Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities, Villanova University
- Cheikh Babou, Associate Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
- Moderated by Talya Fishman, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Can a Secular Society Last?
October 30th, 2014: Speakers:
- Rémi Brague, Emeritus Professor of Arabic and Religious Philosophy at the Sorbonne & Romano Guardini Chair of Philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
- Eric Gregory, Professor of Religion, Princeton University
- Jeffrey Green, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
- Moderated by Mark Shiffman, Associate Professor of Humanities and Classical Studies, Villanova University
How to Redesign an American Metropolis: Water, Transportation and Land Use in the Notre Dame Plan of Chicago 2109
October 2nd, 2014:
Speakers:
- Philip Bess, Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame
- Moderated by Lothar Haselberger, Professor of Roman Architecture and Art History, University of Pennsylvania
A Crisis of Community: Catholic School Closures and Urban Neighborhoods
September 18th, 2014:
Speakers:
- Margaret Brinig, Chair in Law, Notre Dame Law School
- Nicole Stelle Garnett, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
- Moderated by Tim Scully, Institute for Educational Initiatives, University of Notre Dame
Faith in Fossils: Theological Reflections of a Penn Paleontologist
February 5th, 2014: Speaker: Peter Dodson, Professor of Anatomy and Paleontology, University of Pennsylvania
Religious Charter Schools: Constitutional? Desirable?
October 24th, 2013:
Speakers:
- Aaron Saiger, Professor of Law, Fordam University
- Wilson Goode, Former Mayor of Philadelphia
- Joan Goodman, Professor of Education, University of Pennsylvania